


First and Last

by theskywasblue



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance, Spring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-08
Updated: 2010-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-10 11:03:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskywasblue/pseuds/theskywasblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi, Iruka, and the first day of spring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First and Last

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kansouame](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kansouame).



The first day of spring dawned cold and damp, a layer of wet snow coating Konohagakure’s streets, turning everything a messy grey colour. Iruka closed his curtains in protest and wore his thickest pair of wool socks inside his sandals, feeling bitter and slightly sulky as he shuffled to school through the muck.

The kids came in muddy and soaked, whimpering about frozen fingers and toes just as something that was not quite rain but not completely snow started to pelt the classroom windows. The sky was so dark it looked like the sun had never come up at all. Iruka resisted the urge to drench every muddy brat with a powerful water jutsu, and instead took the opportunity to lecture them on field survival in adverse weather conditions and the dangers of frostbite to poorly protected extremities.

He also made it painfully clear that any student caught throwing mud-balls during the morning recess period – or at any time during the school day – would suffer a fate worse than death or detention.

The day progressed from that point on at a limping pace. The kids were restless and irritable, and Iruka was more than happy to have them out of his sight at the end of the day. It wasn’t his shift at the mission desk that afternoon, so he stayed in the staff room and marked homework, hunched over a cup of sour coffee and dreading the cold walk home.

He got up to refresh his cup, turning his back on the table for no more than thirty seconds, and when he turned back there was a paper crane sitting on top of his unmarked exams. As Iruka reached to pick it up, it flapped its paper wings once, and unfolded itself in a puff of chakra smoke, revealing a detailed map, with a bright “X” drawn on a wooded area near the training grounds. Underneath this, the words “Meet me here” were scrawled in a familiar hand.

It was probably the first thing all day that brought a genuine smile to Iruka’s face. Still, he didn’t rush to pack up his things, there wasn’t any point. He finished his pile of marking, took them back to the classroom and sealed them away in his bottom desk drawer first, before gearing up and heading outside.

The weather had improved only by virtue of the fact that there was no longer slush falling from the near-black sky. Iruka used his chakra to keep from sinking into the thick, partially frozen mud that coated the training field, and used the trees once he had reached them to keep himself up off the ground entirely. He was willing to endure the occasional slap of icy leaves on his cheeks and neck if it kept him from getting a layer of mud in his sandals.

The place marked on the map was actually a small clearing, with only a single, ancient tree standing in the center. Iruka knew it well enough – though he couldn’t remember actually visiting the spot before. When he had been younger, the place had been very much en vogue with young Kunoichi. They called it “The Lover’s Tree” and generations of love-struck ninja had carved their names, and the names of the people they pined after, on its massive, dark trunk. As Iruka made his way under the tree’s wide branches he could see that there was hardly a clear spot of bark; he could also see that Naruto had used more than his fair share of space to carve _Naruto + Sakura 4evr_. Here and there were other names he recognized; and it seemed that the legend of the tree _did_ hold true as far Iruka could tell – every couple carved into the tree had so far ended up together.

“Are you feeling sentimental?” Iruka asked finally, without looking up.

“Me?”

Kakashi appeared on the low-hanging branch nearest Iruka’s head without disturbing so much as a single leaf. His silver hair was damp, lying flatter than usual, and there were obvious wet patches on his vest, but that didn’t detract at all from his entirely casual appearance. He stretched out on the limb like a lazy cat and regarded Iruka with his single blue eye.

“The Lover’s Tree?” Iruka couldn’t help but shake his head. “That’s a little tacky, even for you.”

“Ah!” Kakashi put a hand to his chest, “Right to the heart! My name’s not on it, you know.”

“Not anywhere?” Iruka found that hard to believe.

“No. Yours isn’t either.”

Iruka frowned. Somehow the knowledge was disappointing.

“But that’s not why I asked you to come anyway.”

“Why then?” Iruka fidgeted, his toes were getting cold. He wanted to go home and curl up with a mug of something hot and a good book.

“This,” Kakashi patted the limb he was sprawled on affectionately, as if it were a well-behaved dog, “is an apple tree. And every single spring without fail, it’s the very first tree within village limits, to blossom in the spring.”

“How do you know that?”

Kakashi shrugged. “I spend a lot of time here.”

“In the lover’s tree?” Iruka didn’t know whether he should be amused or a little bit horrified.

“Good reconnaissance. And did you know that apple seeds contain cyanide? You’d have to ingest a horrific amount to poison yourself, but still, it’s true.”

Iruka laughed.

“I’m serious,” Kakashi dropped down from the branch, looking wounded.

“I know you are,” Iruka stopped up his laughter with the back of his hand. “That’s what makes it so damn funny.”

Kakashi waited with exaggerated patience until he was certain Iruka was paying full attention to him again, and then pointed, without speaking, to a low hanging branch. Perched right on the very end of a leafy branch-tip was a single, white flower. Iruka stared at it, struck silent for a moment, and felt a smile spreading irrepressibly across his face.

“Oh.”

“I thought it might cheer you up. You had this impressively scary look on your face when you left the house this morning.”

“I thought you were still asleep. This is really very...sweet of you.”

Kakashi shrugged and slipped an arm around Iruka’s waist. “You know...I do have a kunai in my pocket.”

Iruka snickered, “is _that_ what you call it?”

“Very funny. I take it you want to go home?”

“Nah...” Iruka leaned into Kakashi’s warmth, “I’m okay for a little while yet.”

-End-


End file.
